Canada dismisses U.S. campaign talk of NAFTA change

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian Trade Minister David
Emerson on Thursday dismissed calls by Democratic presidential
candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton for
changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement as campaign
rhetoric to rev up their political base.

"I do not see a reason to revisit NAFTA," Emerson said in a
statement e-mailed in response to a question from Reuters.

"The rhetoric delivered in present day election primaries
appears to appeal to the candidates' party roots. It is
unlikely that the same kind of rhetoric will carry through into
a general presidential election," Emerson said.

Both Obama and Clinton have said they would seeks changes
in NAFTA if elected president. That rhetoric has intensified
ahead of the March 4 primary in Ohio, a state where NAFTA is
often blamed for manufacturing job losses.

Obama has promised that one of the first things he would do
as president would be to call the leaders of Canada and Mexico
to ask to put stronger labor and environmental provisions into
the pact, as well as to change investment provisions that
critics say favor corporate interests too much.

The Illinois senator also has portrayed Clinton as
opportunistically taking a more critical stance on the pact
years after her husband, former President Bill Clinton,
successfully pushed the agreement through Congress.

Emerson said it was hard to imagine Canada agreeing to any
changes that would hamper the current trading relationship.

"When you consider how integrated whole industries and
companies are across the Canada-U.S. border, the very thought
that you would break that two-way flow of trade down is highly
unlikely," Emerson said.
Continued...